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A GEM OF A TESTIMONY AT THE END HINTS AT WHAT ABSOLUTE AFFIRMATIONS OF WHAT’S REAL & DENIALS OF WHAT’S UNREAL CAN DO FOR YOU!
Let God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with new insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“UNREALITY”
for October 2, 2022
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps.org
FEEL THE WEEKLY WOW OF BIBLE-BASED GEMS THAT START AND STAY IN THE ABSOLUTE WITH AFFIRMATIONS AND DENIALS! [AS DO THE SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT OF BEING AND JOHN 1]
Cobbey Crisler on John 1:1-3 (citation B1; plus partial requote in citation S1, 525:17-24):
The “Scientific Statement of Being” also follows the pattern on p. 468 of Science & Health]
“In the beginning was the Word… without (the Word of God) “was not anything made that was made.”
[Cobbey Crisler:] ““John 1:1. John starts off unlike any of the preceding gospels. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He starts off, as a matter of fact, as only one other book of the Bible begins. Notice Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ” Do you think the early readers of his gospel would have recognized that? Do you think that was John’s intent? That it should be recognized?
“This is something that is a major clue to studying the Bible. That is, when you get the remotest hint of an Old Testament verse in the New Testament, don’t ignore it or put it aside. It’s there for a very deep reason. It probably holds the key to the meaning of the New Testament event, or the author would not have included it…
...[It’s] the kind of surface research that Jesus expected of his followers… When he said in John 5:39, “search the Scriptures,” … Jesus knew [this] would be enormously rewarding. The yield on that kind of investment would leap out of the page into the lives of those who did it. Therefore, “the word would be made flesh,” (John 1:14).
“John 1:1 starts his gospel off, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Greek is, en arche hin ho logos. Does arche look familiar to you? It is the root word in “archeology.” It’s an exciting word. It doesn’t just mean when things begin or when they have started in a human way, so much as, translated by some scholars, as “the first principle” of things.
“For instance, when Jerome, in about 400 A.D. translates the Greek Bible into Latin, here’s how he does those opening words. “In principio,” which, of course, is our root of our word “principle,” in principio. He could have used another Latin expression which is “ab initio, ” which would have meant at the initial phases of things, but instead he chooses a Latin word which has a dual meaning which could be “principle,” the first principle, the origin, the basis of things.
“If we choose that particular Greek meaning for the opening of both Genesis and John, then it gives it an entirely different connotation. If, in principle, God created the heaven and the earth, or in principle, was the word, it starts out like many mathematical or scientific textbooks which start out with the statement of principle. Everything else derives from it.
…“Do you know where we use logos in the English language? Biology, physiology. Logos is the one that has been used to define the sciences in the English language. This was the comprehension at least of the lexicographers who developed our own language of the Greek term. Look how it’s lasted even in our language. We use it all the time without realizing it, taking it for granted. Is there a scientific connotation, then, that “In the beginning,” “In the first principle of things,” there is a scientific unvarying, inalienable, order that’s ruling. And that it’s not only being uttered as an expression or word, but behind it is the immense thought that also must be based on the same principle. Notice in Verse 1 of Chapter 1 that it all related with and to God.
“John 1:3 continues with a statement that is quite absolute, “All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Is there any reservation for qualifications? “All things were made by him. That is [an] enormous commitment to make at the beginning of a book. The theology of this book is therefore committed right squarely on what principle if we’re now defining the theological principle on which the Bible is based? Not only oneness of God, but the fact He’s one, also means He’s all. “All things were made by Him.” Everything is created by Him. That also poses problems, because all we have to do is open our eyes and look around us. And what we see, we’d rather not think was created by God. But as of now, we’ve just started the book. So, let’s see what the style of the author is and his theological commitments. “All things were made by Him.”
“He doesn’t leave it there. The very next sentence adds, “Without him was not any thing made that was made.” Why is he saying that? Doesn’t “all things were made by Him” take care of the other part? What is the difference? What’s the distinction that he is implanting in his readers’ thought right at the beginning of the book? “All things were made by Him.” What would you call that? That kind of statement is an absolute, but is it also an affirmation. It’s a real solid plus. This is a plus of the theological view of John. “All things were made by Him.”
“What have we got now? Denial. Here is how we’re going to deal with the minus element. The minus element is without Him, “without him was not any thing made that was made.” Any hint of a minus existing after the all-things-were-made-by-him being declared, is removed, because it is the other side of the same coin.
“The plus, the minus, the affirmation, the denial is a mathematical approach. Dealing with the plus, dealing with the minus and ending up with one, not dualism. One, so there’s no doubt that the key to the gospel is monotheism. It challenges the reader’s thought to see if he’s there at that altitude before he continues any further in the gospel. It forces the reader to get to that height in order to remotely communicate with what’s in the gospel.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
TURN FROM EVERY VAIN, MERELY-MATERIAL REMEDY TO THE ONE SOURCE, AS OUR INSTANTANEOUS, INSPIRING “PANDEMIC PANACEA” FOR ALL HEALINGS! [W: these angel-coined terms for “freaky-fast” “Big Bang” healings also come with guarantees of No convalescence, No relapse, No side-effects and No after-effects!
(see Cobbey Crisler below on citation B2 from Psalm 33:9, 11)
[Cobbey:] Psalms 33:9 (cit. B2)
Chapter 33, Verse 9, we’ve already alluded to. The swiftness of God’s treatment. It’s not a process, according to the Bible. It’s not recuperation. It’s not convalescence, or gradual recovery. “He spake, and it was [done],” In case we have had room in our thinking for a possibility of relapse, it is stated, “He commanded, and it stood fast.” No side effects, no after effects.
In Verse 11, “The advice or counsel of the LORD stands” for how long? “For ever.” What good I that, if we aren’t there forever to receive such advice? “The thoughts of his heart to all generations.” What good are God’s thoughts unless those are the potions we are supposed to be taking, imbibing, ingesting. God’s thoughts, His potions. Take them, eat them up, drink them in. That makes the Bible a pharmacopoeia which is a word the dictionary says describes “preparations issued by official authority and recognized as a standard.” [W: That’s what I call “BIG Pharma!” It’s worthy of daily investing in with a “PROPHET” motive. (a “spiritual seer” inspirational motive of “the disappearance of material sense before the conscious facts of spiritual Truth.” (SH 593:4)] Pharmacopoeia, which is a word that in its ordinary meaning without uplifting it to what the Bible would require of the term anew would just simply be an authority to which one would turn to know where the remedies all are.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BE TRANSFORMED FROM FEELING LIKE AN EXILE SUFFERING FROM “VERY BAD” ALONENESS TO FEELING THE “VERY GOOD” ALL-ONENESS OF SPIRITUAL BAPTISM & TOGETHERNESS! — [from Warren’s notes on Cobbey’s talks on Gen. 1:31, cit. B5]:
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Genesis chapter 1 was written in response to the Hebrew people’s crisis of exile.
“Verse 2 attempts to explain how creation occurred as well as how a new beginning could occur out of the vacuity of the nothingness of the exile (W: Think about what a super-severe quarantine being exiled to a conquering enemy’s homeland would be, to be taken away from your home, family and all that’s familiar.) To the post-exilic authors of Genesis 1 “the earth was without form and void” – or “Toe-who” and Boe-who” – the translated names of the Babylonian mythical leviathan-like, sea monster and their mythical behemoth-like, land monster. The modern-day myth is that we evolved from the sea to be dry land creatures with a further refined way of animal thought and life. Human thought was dark much like “darkness on the face of the waters.” … Spirit is the root of the whole word inspiration… No advance can occur in life without inspiration—so “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”… This happens also when Jesus is baptized, coming “straightway out of the water,” as part of a divine announcement. He sees “the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.” (Matthew 3:16) Consequently, one recognizes that if Spirit represents the motive of his career, it’s an inspired career…
“It’s how the entire Bible begins (Genesis 1:2) because “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” It’s almost as if in Jesus’ baptism, we’re getting this genesis of God’s creation, that first chapter, applied on earth. The Spirit is moving on those waters in which Jesus is standing. There is a Spirit genesis here. Look at what happened in Genesis 1 in those brief verses when creation is depicted for us.”
Verse 3 (from a bumper sticker that I enjoyed seeing): “The Big Bang theory: “Let there be light” and BANG! It happened!”) …
[transcribed from Warren’s notes on Cobbey Crisler talks on Genesis 1]
LIVE THIS SINGLE-SENTENCE SUMMARY OF “A CENTURY OF BRILLIANT PROPHECY”: “DO JUSTLY, LOVE MERCY, AND WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD!” Micah 6:8, cit. B8 plus a brief history of this sentence & the Sixth Tenet of Christian Science!
FYI: James Luther Mays, in his commentary on Micah, remarks: “…at a profound level the answer [to the prelude question posed in verse 6] does call for sacrifice, but a kind quite different from that proposed by the question. It is not sacrifice of something outside a person which can be objectified as a means to deal with God. It is rather a yielding of life itself to God and his way, ‘repentance’ of the most radical sort.
“What [God] requires is not the life of something but the living of the man who stands before him.” NEB translates: “God has told you what is good; and what is it that the Lord asks of you? Only to act justly, to love loyalty, to walk wisely before your God.”
“Because the people tried to please God by offering Him gifts during religious ceremonies, Micah prefaces his counsel with a series of questions—including, “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?” (verse 7 prelude).
“Then he declares that what God requires is their just, merciful, humble lives rather than mere ritual. The prophet’s words echo Moses’ counsel in Deuteronomy: “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (10:12).
“One source says of Micah’s words, “In this single sentence the prophet sums up a century of brilliant prophecy.” This verse anticipates the two great commandments Jesus quoted, to love God and one’s neighbor (see Matthew 22:37–39)—and represents a definitive break with the common view of religion as an obligatory performance of rites. Devotion to God was to be a matter of one’s entire heart, character, and life.”
HISTORIC CONNECTIONS OF MICAH 6:8 TO THE SIXTH TENET OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE:
“…solemnly covenant…to deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God;…”
1879 Covenants and Tenets #3D**
This portion of the 1879 Church Tenets was taken directly from what Micah 6:8 says that God requires of us in citation B8 of this week’s Bible Lesson. It is adapted and incorporated (as highlighted) into our current “Sixth Tenet” which—with walk humbly added—reads in full:
“6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us (walk humbly?) which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.” Science and Health, 497:24
**Click on Downloads at the bottom of CedarS webpage version of an earlier “GEM” to see a full history of the evolution of the Sixth Tenet as researched by “The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Mankind.”
SEE LOVINGKINDNESS DRAWING ALL MANKIND to God for SOLUTIONS to WORLD PROBLEMS! Cobbey Crisler on Jeremiah 31 (citation B11/Jer. 31:3 +33, 34)
“In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”— [to make “their soul (spiritual sense) as a watered garden.” (Jer. 31:12)
Jeremiah 31:33, 34 “… this shall be the covenant that I make… I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts… for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
CLAIM WISDOM FROM ABOVE! Cobbey on John 7:14-18 (cit. B12, also in Mark 6.2+):
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Verse 2 of Mark 6 (is like verse 15 of John 7: “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”) In Mark, see the play on word, “What wisdom is this which is given to him, that even mighty works are wrought by his hands?” That’s what a carpenter does. There’s really kind of an insidious thing there. How can he, a manual laborer, accomplish something that is out of the manual realm? And using those terms to answer itself or presume to answer itself.
Verse 3 of Mark 6 shows us that his home town is quite an obstacle. “Is not this the carpenter?” Let’s remember, the word “carpenter” here may not be “carpenter,” whether it refers to Jesus or Joseph. It’s tekton. That’s actually part of our word “architect.” In the ancient world, it could mean “architect.” It’s also been used for “physician,” “ship builder,” “sculptor,” and any craftsman of considerable skill. To narrow it down to “carpenter” is something that we have read into the text.”
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO BRING A FRIEND TO CHRIST’S FORGIVENESS & GOOD CHEER!
[W. Luke 5:18-25, citation B12 has the same healing described in Matthew 9:2-8, except Luke records how the paralyzed man’s friends got him through the crowd by tearing off the roof & lowering him to Jesus to experience this remarkable healing. See also Ken Cooper’s poem, “The Man Sick of the Palsy”]
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Matthew 9, Verse 2: ‘We have a man in bed with the palsy.” Can you imagine Jesus going by a man who had been that long without moving and telling him to “be of good cheer”? But there’s nothing Jesus said that he didn’t discern was needed. What that man needed, more than physical movement, was to be of good cheer. Jesus said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Jesus knew at a glance the whole history of a case.”
(Verse 3). The scribes say, “This man blasphemes.” In order to get the healing, he has to eliminate the theological obstruction to healing first.
(Verse 5). He says, “What is easier? To say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?”
(Verse 6). “Because the Son of man does have power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and he goes.”
“The Book of Matthew, A Tax Collector’s Account, Auditing the Master,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
DELIGHT TODAY IN GEMS OF BIBLICAL THERAPY with ITS HEALING TREE FED BY “RIVERS OF SPIRITUAL INSPIRATION.”
Insights from Cobbey Crisler on citation B16, Psalm 1:1, +BONUS on VERSES 2 & 3:
[Cobbey Crisler:] “The very opening Psalm sets the tone for the entire psalter [or book of psalms]… We’re told right away that happiness, certainly an objective of all of us*, is the result if a man DOESN”T do certain things and DOES do other things…
[W:] What NOT to do— [CC on Ps. 1:1:] “Don’t follow the advice of the ungodly… the morally wrong… Don’t sit in the seat of those who deride or mock. [W: as if putting down others would benefit oneself politically.] Getting rid of that is the purgative [W: or purging part of the cure or medicine] …
[W:] What TO do— [CC bonus insights on Ps. 1:2:] “What do we take, then as the restorative “medicine?” [W: or the invigorating part of a stimulus package for a return to health.] [CC:] “His delight in [W: or his pursuit of happiness] is in what?… “Meditation day and night in God’s law.” [Psalm 1:2] His teaching.”
[CC bonus insights on Ps. 1:3] “Then, the tree appears in Verse 3, “that tree that brings forth fruit in his season with the leaf that will not wither or fade.” That tree is mentioned later in Ezekiel [47:12]…
Of course, we find the whole idea expanding when we reach that tree in the last chapter of the Bible. That tree has grown in our thought too. Its grand root has been fed by the rivers of spiritual inspiration.” …
[CC:] “That fruit is fair. It’s never consumed. Its leaf is for medicine. The leaves of the tree may include prescriptions from the Psalms that we will be focusing on.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
LISTEN TO HYMN 457 FROM PSALM 143:8, cit. B17 IN CHRISTIE’S MET THIS WEEK:
[Christie Hanzlik’ s Section 4 Met:] “I have found this prayer—“Cause me to hear your lovingkindness”—crucial because it is often difficult to turn away from discord that feels very, very real. For me, it has not enough been sufficient to lean on human reasoning or intellectualism, but at some point, I have to let go with humility and ask Truth to, “Cause me to hear your lovingkindness.” Truth is the cause, the cause without beginning. When I’m praying this prayer, I am essentially letting the Truth of being inform me and affirming that, “Since God is All, there is no room for His unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good, is unreal, and cannot be the product of God.” (cit. S18, 339:7-10)
“Here is a link to this prayer-Psalm as a hymn sung by Matthew Hammond and his family. (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 457)
It is also available as a DOWNLOAD at the end of the online Met.
“Matthew will be leading the CedarS Virtual Hymn Sing on October 2nd, and also teaches hymn writing workshops at CedarS for campers of all ages. (You will be sent an email with the Zoom link to this healing event and details about it, if you have already signed up. If not, you can register here:https://cedarscamps.org/programs/type/hymn-sings/ And, here is a link to a hymn project Matthew and his friend Davya and others are working on. (https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-matthew-davya-record-their-1st-duet-album) .”
FOLLOW the RECIPE for FREEDOM as you GIVE a Know-the-Truth TREATMENT!
Cobbey Crisler on John 8:32/citation B20 with notes & quotes from others
John 8:31, 32. “Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, ‘If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, And ye shall KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.’” (caps added)
[Cobbey:] “Here is the recipe for freedom, “It’s the truth itself that makes you free.” It is the fact that makes you free. In John 8:44, the devil is defined as a liar [W. a “fake news” distributor] and also a murderer from the beginning. If you analyze that again, the devil has one of two purposes when it enters into the thoughts and lives of man. It is either to deceive us or to kill us or others. That’s the motive prompting the thought, critical or otherwise. Remember, judging righteous judgment eliminates most criticisms, and not judging according to appearance. It [lying “fake news”] either murders or kills our neighbor or ourselves, or its purpose is to deceive, one or the other.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,“by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren: Here’s a RELATED BONUS TREATMENT for this October Halloween month of “Trick or Treat(ments) — “Know the Truth” Notes taken and typed-up by Ruth Huff from a Jack Hubbell lecture:]
“KNOW THE TRUTH” means knowing or being conscious of what is already true!
“Mary Baker Eddy was once asked by a reporter, what is a Christian Science treatment?
After a few moments of deep thought, she answered, (in words that Mom posted over her desk)
‘It (Christian Science treatment) is the absolute acknowledgment of present perfection!’
(Elizabeth Earl Jones Reminiscences).
[Jack Hubbell:] “If you begin a treatment to improve an imperfect condition, STOP!
You have been mesmerized!
“You are well, before you give the treatment!
Treatment is being conscious of present reality.”
(Notes from a Jack Hubbell, CS, lecture and from word studies more fully summarized below)
“What does it mean to “know the truth?” – To acknowledge it!
acknowledgment: to acknowledge means to admit to be true
– to declare the Truth of something
– an admission of truth as a fact or principle
Unity of Good 7:20-22 . . . “an acknowledgment of the perfection of the infinite Unseen confers a power nothing else can.”
We can’t know a lie!
You cannot know that 2 + 2 = 5, because it does not! You can only believe it!
We can never know sin, disease or anything that seems inharmonious, because it is just a lying suggestion! We can only be tricked if we believe it!
Where do we learn what is real and what is a lie?
Through THE WORD (the Scriptures and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures)
SH 503:12 “Divine Science, the Word of God . . . .”
How did Jesus pray? What was he thinking, what was he knowing that healed so effectively?
“…Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, — of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love.” (SH 12:13 Jesus)
protests: (1828 Webster’s Dictionary)
– solemn declarations of fact
– affirmation, acknowledgement of what is real
– to call as a witness in affirming or denying
What do we treat? How does knowing the truth have any effect? What really needs healing?
* NEVER treat man, never treat a ‘sick’ man
* Always treat the suggestion that man is sick
“The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man is, not shall be, perfect and immortal.”
Science and Health, 428:22 (bolding added)
To ‘really know the truth’ wouldn’t deal with a real disease, but with a false suggestion. The false suggestion is all there is to the problem.
Jargon: to know the truth sometimes means we are going to quote a passage or call upon a line from some place and eliminate an imperfect condition – that we are going to fix matter with truth.
“KNOW THE TRUTH” means knowing or being conscious of what is already true!
Mary Baker Eddy was once asked by a reporter, what is a Christian Science treatment? After a few moments of deep thought, she answered,
“It (Christian Science treatment) is absolute acknowledgment of present perfection!” (Elizabeth Earl Jones Reminiscences).
If we begin a treatment to improve an imperfect condition, STOP!
You have been mesmerized!
You are well, before you give the treatment!
Treatment is being conscious of present reality.
(Jack Hubbell)
We sometimes say,
“I’m sick, what can I do to get well? I know I’ll affirm I AM WELL, that will stop me from being sick.
It is not a tool to use to make the sick well.
We affirm “I AM WELL” because “I AM WELL”.
AS A CHURCH, LET’S MAKE OUR PRAYERS “INSTANT … EARNEST … UNCEASING”
THEN, LET’S EXPECT RESULTS!
(See the rest of the story.) Cobbey on Acts 12:1-11 (cit. B21)—Peter’s jail break by prayer:
[Cobbey Crisler:] “… Passover season… seems to be the popular time for execution… Herod arrests Peter, throws him into prison with sixteen soldiers guarding him with full intent to bring him out and try him and execute him after the Passover festival. (…This is Herod Agrippa the First, who ruled all Palestine in the years 41-44 A.D. He was grandson of Herod the Great…) As one might translate the Greek in Acts 12, verse 5: “Instant and earnest prayer was made unceasing of the church unto God for him.”…
“This focus collectively on prayer – does it have power? Well, that very night, we can see the effectiveness of such prayer because Peter suddenly, not knowing really what is happening himself, is fast asleep in the prison when he is awakened, told to “rise up quickly. His chains fall off from his hands.”… The angel, with a note of human practicality, “suggests that Peter put on his sandals. He does, still really not knowing what he is doing, thinking it’s almost a dream he is going through.”… “He goes out through the first and second ward and finally to the gate that leadeth unto the city. It opens, as if by itself. They go out together. The angel disappears.”…
“Peter, for the first time in Acts 12, verse 11, realizes what has happened and states “now I know for sure that God hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod. Peter makes his way to what was apparently a favorite Christian assembly point. And that is called the house of Mary,” the mother of John, whose surname was Mark… John Mark being the one to whom the gospel has been attributed.
[The rest of the story, beyond this week’s markers, cCobbey continues:]
“This may have been the house church in Jerusalem where the early church held many of its meetings. It was here that the church was praying for the release of Peter.
And now we’re about to be introduced to one of my favorite characters in the Bible. Her name is Rhoda. This Rhoda acts like many little girls I know, and I’m sure that you know. “Peter knocks at the door of the gate.” (Knocking sound) And everybody’s praying so heavily inside no one hears him “except for this child.” (Acts 12:13) Rhoda comes to the gate and recognizes Peter’s voice. Now do you think that Rhoda lets Peter in? No.
“She’s so excited she leaves Peter standing there and races inside the house and tells everybody that Peter’s out there.”… You can imagine what this adult church-going group said to Rhoda. “They turned to her and say, ‘You are mad!”… (See Acts 12:15)… Many groups of adults dismiss children in similar terms. And isn’t it a commentary somewhat on the conviction, or lack of it, behind their prayer? “Don’t bother us, Rhoda, we’re praying.” And yet, the answer to their prayer stood outside the gate, and a little child was trying to lead them there. Now, when it says “she constantly affirmed that it was so,” I think you could get very easily a picture of a little girl stamping her foot on the ground, insisting that Peter was there…
Finally, to shut her up, they are willing to concede that “it might be his angel,” something other than Peter himself, assuming perhaps that Peter had been executed… “But Peter persistently keeps knocking.” (See Acts 12:16) (Knocking sound) …
“You notice it’s harder for him to get into John Mark’s Mother’s house than it was for him to get out of jail. And they come and open the door and are astonished.”
“After the Master, What? The Book of Acts,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
TESTIMONY: AS THE ST. LOUIS CARDINAL BASEBALL TEAM IS ABOUT TO ENTER PLAYOFFS FOR THE 2022 “WORLD SERIES,” I’M REMINDED OF MY INSTANTANEOUS ANKLE HEALING THAT WAS BASED ON “THE CONFIDENCE INSPIRED BY SCIENCE… IN THE FACT THAT TRUTH IS REAL AND ERROR IS UNREAL.” (citation S27, 368:2-4)
[Warren:] “In the fall of 1982, on a front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch there was an article about St. Louis Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith experiencing an ankle injury right before the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers (then in the American League). Team physicians said he might be out for the rest of the season and advised that his injured ankle be given what they called the “ R. I.C.E. Treatment .” It stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. As I read the article right before starting an hour of inspiration with a long run in Queeny Park, I thought to myself that “It will be fun when I have more time to turn each of those physical RICE procedures that are recommended to improve injuries symptoms into a series of metaphysical treatments that are sure to change the evidence and to bring quick and lasting freedom, harmony and healing to any ankle and any body.”
About halfway onto my run, at the bottom of the steep Fox Run hill, I got my opportunity to prove how “quick and powerful” a confidently applied and spiritualized version of a R.I.C.E. treatment could be.
When I my foot landed on a pile of dry leaves in the creek bed at the bottom of Fox Run, it kept going into a deep, rocky hole and I heard and felt a loud crack. When I picked myself up, I found it VERY painful to try to put any weight on that foot. Gratefully, the first “smooth stone” that came to me right away to sling at the Goliath of fear that was yelling at me then was: “It will be FUN to see how God works this one out!” I often heard my mom say this with a smile on her face as soon as some problem occurred, no matter how dire the trial of her faith or of ours was. And, it always was FUN to see and recount all the ways this helpful, confident attitude went right to work to listen for and “love into view” with all our hearts the just-right healing thoughts and actions that were needed.
REST: Right away I remembered that the R in the R.I.C.E. treatment stands for REST.
But at that point, I was over a mile from home at the bottom of steep trails in every direction and without a cell phone. (This was B.C.— Before Cellphones or iPhones were on the market.)
But from my “I-Am call” (to “God, the great I Am”) I right away heard this 4-word, angel message from Science and Health that gave me inspiration and hope: “God rests in action.” (519:25) The paragraph titled “Resting in holy work” continues “No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science. The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.”
ICE: I in the R.I.C.E. treatment stands for ICE (to reduce inflammation):
No ice was anywhere nearby, but the great I Am sent me the message: Remove fear and remove the fever. I remembered that “Fear not” was often Jesus’ first instruction to patients before healing them. I later saw how the message, Remove fear and remove the fever, can be inferred from all the great arguments on pages 374-377 of Science and Health that start with the line: “Heat and cold are products of mortal mind.” (374:26)
COMPRESSION: C in the R.I.C.E. treatment stands for COMPRESSION.
But, without an ACE ankle wrap in sight, I had to find and apply a spiritual sense of it. “The great I Am” sent me the message: There’s nothing as compressive as feeling a big hug from the infinitely powerful, yet gentle, divine Love that cherishes you moment by moment forever! My internal Concord, reminded me of this favorite passage that I’d read that morning in the Bible Lesson: “The poor suffering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace, patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear Father’s loving-kindness.” (Science and Health, 365:31)
ELEVATION: E in the R.I.C.E. treatment stands for ELEVATION. Although I would not be able to sit around resting in the park with my foot up or wrapped, I could always keep my thought spiritually elevated and wrapped in God’s love! The two quick quotes that came to me about elevation were:
- “We must … rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the Godlike man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.” (S&H 262:10).
- Back to my first inspired message about Rest: “God rests in action.” (519:25) The paragraph titled “Resting in holy work” continues “No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science. The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.”
An unexpected aspect of this healing that still amazes and inspires me to always seek to turn things into thoughts is that as I really grabbed onto these inspiring ideas – apprehended them – I was inspired to get on my feet and without pain to run up a steep hill on the original almost 2 miles of connecting trails back to our home – AND TO DO SO WITHOUT EVEN BREATHING HARD!! “What cannot God do?!”— AND FOR YOU TOO!!
Have fun applying and proving these clear, higher views for yourself and for “all whom your thoughts rest upon…” and thereby bless! (My. 210:9)
